Hair drier attachment for vacuum cleaners



Oct. 6, 1953 D. w. BOWEN HAIR DRIER ATTACHMENT FOR VACUUM CLEANERS Filed Oct. 17, 1952 m m m m DANIEL W. Bowen:

Patented Oct. 6, 1953 HAIR DRIER ATTACHMENT FOR VACUUM CLEANERS Daniel W. Bowen, Tampa, Fla., assignor to Miracle-Vac, Inc.,-Miami, Fla., a corporation of Florida Application October 17, 1952, Serial No. 315,385

1 Claim.

This invention relates to hair driers, and more particularly, has reference to a hair drier attachment for a conventional vacuum cleaner.

The invention, summarized brieflypis a generally tapered bag of flexible, porous material, the porosity of said material being such as will resist, but not prevent, the passage of air through the material of which the bag is formed. The bag formed in accordance with the present invention is formed open at its opposite ends, both ends being elasticized. The larger end of the bag is adapted to be fitted about the head of a user, with the smaller end being circumposed about, and snugly engaging the outlet end of the air discharge hose of a conventional vacuum cleaner.

Since the bag is fitted snugly about the head of a user, it will be understood that warm air discharged into the bag from the vacuum cleaner will inflate the bag, so as to hold the bag away from the users hair, said air passing through and about the hair to dry the same, before being discharged through the porous wall of the bag.

The main object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair drier of the type adapted for connection to a vacuum cleaner, it

being proposed, in this regard, to provide a hair drier which can be manufactured at a minimum of cost, thus to make the device commercially feasible.

It is a further important object to provide a device of the type stated which, though capable of manufacture at a very low cost, will yet be so formed as to retain substantially all the warm air discharged thereinto from the vacuum cleaner, thus to make effectiveuse of said air before the air passes through the porous wall of the bag.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a bag of the type stated which can be made of a single size, to fit heads of any size, and also to flt vacuum cleaner hoses of any type or diameter.

Still another object of importance is to providei a device of the character referred .to which will make maximum use of the heat generated by the standard exhaust vacuum cleaner motor, thereby to cause the hair to be dried in a minimum of time.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in a bag of the type stated, an end portion connectible to the air discharge hose of a vacuum cleaner, which end portion will be of relatively elongated, tapered formation, thus to direct the air emanating from the hose to the hair being ied. drI m wa o t e a t t t eretofore, hair 'drier attachments for vacuum cleaners have been devised. However, those attachments of which I have knowledge have, in my opinion, certain features which prevent theirv being commercially feasible to any appreciable extent. For example,

certain of the hair drier devices attachable to vacuum cleaners, and of which I have knowledge, require special conduits, and are formed, in many instances, of inflexible material, as a result of which the manufacturing cost is increased to an undesirable extent.

Still others, to my knowledge, utilize various metal parts, even though being primarily of a flexible nature, and this also adds to the manu- ;-facturing cost, it being important to note, in this connection, that the bag constituting the present invention is formed of inexpensive, flexible materia1throughout.-

A further object of importance is to provide a hair drier attachment of the type stated which cleaner hose.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claimv appended thereto, and

from the annexed drawing, in which like refer- I once characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a hair drier attachment formed in accordance with the present invention, as it appears when in use, a

vacuum cleaner hose to which said attachment is connected being illustrated fragmentarily;

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the hair drier attachment per se;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view showing that portion of the drier attachment that is connected to the vacuum cleaner hose, the hose being illustrated fragmentarily and in longitudinal section; and

Figure 4 is a plan view of the blank from which the. hair drier attachment is formed.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral H] has been applied to a conventional vacuum cleaner air discharge hose. In this connection, the vacuum cleaner has not been illustrated in the drawings, but it will be understood that the vacuum cleaner is wholly conventional, and as a result, warm air is discharged from the vacuum cleaner through the hose, said air being warmed by passage thereof past the motor of the cleaner.

The hair drier attachment constituting the 3 present invention has been designated generally by the reference numeral 12, and is formed from a single blank of cloth material 14.

The material of which the blank [4 is constituted is, of course, flexible throughout its area. Additionally, the cloth material is porous throughout its area, the porosity of such material being such as well resist the passage of air through the material, but will not prevent said passage of air- As will be noted from Figure 4, the blank of material I4 is wider at one end than at the other. the blank having a relatively elongated end edge H5 at its wider end, and having short, straight side edge portions l8 extending from the opposite ends of said end edge I6.

The short, straight side edge portions l8 merge, intermediate the opposite ends of the blank, into convergent, relatively elongated side edge portions 20, the side edge portions converging along curving lines, to the other end edge 22 of the blank. The end edge 22 of the blank is much shorter in length than the edge 16, aswlll be readily noted from Figure 4.

A longitudinally and centrally disposed fold line 24 is provided in the blank, extending from end to end of the blank.

In forming the hair drier attachment from the blank illustrated in Figure 4, the side edge portions 18 are brought together, and stitched throughout their lengths, the line of stitching being continued through the side edge portions 20, which are also brought together. This forms the attachment into a generally tubular, tapered member illustrated in side elevation in Figure 2, one end of said member being substantially wider than the other. Adjacent the wider end of the member, the tubular member isincreased so far as the cross sectional area thereof is concerned, to provide an enclosure for the hair of the user.

The ends I6, 22, as will be noted from Figure 3, are hemmed about elastic bands 26, so as to be resiliently distensible. Thus, the elasticized end I6 is adapted to receive the head of a user, and will fit snugly about the head, to prevent loss of air through said end l6. Similarly, the end 22 is engaged snugly about the outlet end of the air discharge hose H! (see Figure 3).

It will be readily appreciated that the construction is such as to permit the attachment to be connected to any of various conventional air discharge hoses l0, there being no special connection required between the hair drier attachment and the hose on which it is to be used. Further, the larger end of the attachment is such as to conform itself to the configuration of the head of the user, this construction being particularly adapted to allow manufacture of the device in a single size. I

In use of the hair drier attachment, the warm air discharged from the hose ID is directed against the hair of the user, by reason of the elongated, tapered end portion of the porous bag shown at the right in Figures 1 and 2.

The warm air will thus be, caused to flow through and about the users hair, and will cause the bag to be inflated to an extent suflicient to space the wall of the bag, throughout most of its area, from the users hair.

After the warm air has been directed against and through the users hair, it passes outwardly through the wall of the bag, in the direction shown by the arrows in Figure 1, so as to permit new warm air entering the bag to be directed against the users hair.

It will be seen that a device formed in accordance with the present invention can be manufactured at a minimum of cost, and will fit any user. Additionally, the device will be engageable with any conventional vacuum cleaner hose or tube. The device can be readily laundered, and when not in use, can be compactly folded.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

, A hair drier attachment comprising a bag fabricated solely of flexible material which is porous throughout to an extent such as to resist but not prevent the passage of air therethrough, said bag being formed from a blank of the aforesaid material and having straight end edges of unequal width and side edges extending between said end edges with a fold line extending along its longitudinal center line thereof, said side edges of the blank having portions adjacent the wider end edge which are straight and having portions converging along curving lines extending from the narrower end edge and merging with the straight portions of said side edges, said blank being folded upon itself along the longitudinal fold line with the side edges stitched together throughout their entire length to thereby form a tubular member having both ends open and tapering from one of the open ends to the other, the portion of said member adjacent sald one open end providing an interior space adapted to enclose loosely the hair of a human head to be dried, each of said open ends being hemmed about an elastic band, the other of the open ends of said member being adapted to embracingly receive an outlet end of an air source. DANIEL W. BOWEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,698,583 Brown Jan. 8, 1929 2,523,915 Murphy Sept. 26L 1950 

